Ohio to resume executions in Summit County case

October 4, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

Prison officials plan to move forward with the scheduled execution of a Summit County man convicted in the rape and murder of a toddler more than 20 years ago, using a three-drug combination similar to the method the state relied on for lethal injections for a decade.

Ronald Phillips, whose execution has been postponed several times while the state has worked to locate supplies of the drug used by the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections current lethal injection protocol, is to be put to death Jan. 12.

More than two dozen other death row inmates have executions scheduled through 2020.

State prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said in a statement that Phillips’ execution would be carried out using midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride under an updated protocol being announced this week.

“In keeping with its obligation under Ohio law to carry out death sentences handed down and upheld by the courts, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction informed U.S. District Court Chief Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. that the department is updating its execution protocol to include a combination of three drugs [midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride],” Smith said. “The department used a similar combination from 1999 to 2009, and last year, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the use of this specific three-drug combination.”

She added, “After filing the updated policy with Judge Sargus, DRC will proceed with the scheduled execution of Ronald Phillips in January 2017.”

A group of execution opponents questioned the decision Monday.

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said: “This is yet another experiment with at least one untried drug. Ohio’s track record is not one that exudes confidence. But really, the state should not resume executions without first addressing the Supreme Court Task Force recommendations to ensure the system is both fair and accurate.”

Executions in Ohio have been on hold since the lethal injection of Dennis McGuire in January 2014. McGuire, who received a capital sentence for the rape and murder of a pregnant Preble County woman, gasped for breath during what witnesses described as a prolonged procedure under the state’s two-drug execution method.

In early 2015, state prison officials abandoned that combination, switching to two different drugs, though that protocol has not been used.